Hibernian have signed full-back Thierry Gathuessi on a two-year contract despite John Collins previously saying talks with the Cameroon internationalist were "dead".

The 25-year-old impressed on trial at the club's pre-season training camp in Austria earlier this month having come to Collins' attention in a match involving a dozen prospective new recruits in May.

Solid outings in friendlies convinced Collins to enter negotiations with the defender and his agent.

But with discussions dragging on last week, the transfer seemed doomed when Collins indicated he was moving on from the FC Sete right-back to other options.

That appears to have had the desired effect of forcing the issue with the African and his representative, and the former Montpellier player yesterday expressed his relief at finally putting pen to paper.

He said: "I spent a lot of nights without sleeping last week because I was worried things would not work out with Hibs.

"Other clubs wanted to take me on trial but everything was clear in my mind that I wanted to come to Hibs.

"I was sure that I wanted to be here but I was worried that after waiting too long Hibs may have gone for someone else.

"The manager put a lot of trust in me by taking me to Austria and giving me the chance and that helped me make my mind up.

"Even though it is late, I am happy to be here because that is what I wanted all along."

Gathuessi, who has six caps for Cameroon, had a year remaining on his deal with Sete but was free to engineer a transfer to a bigger club.

He joins Yves Ma-Kalambay, Torben Joneleit, Alan O'Brien, Clayton Donaldson and Brian Kerr in bolstering Hibernian's squad following some high-profile departures this summer.

In welcoming the arrival of Gathuessi yesterday, Collins insisted the full-back was not a replacement for Steven Whittaker, who has been the subject of intense speculation linking him with a £1.8 million move to Rangers.

Collins said: "We were very impressed by Thierry in Austria.

"He is an accomplished player who we believe will do very well in our league.

"He can play on either the left or right side of defence and has, in fact, played in central defence at his previous clubs, so gives us a few more options in that area.

"We are delighted to have him at the club and no-one should be reading anything untoward into Gathuessi's signing in regard to Steven."

Gathuessi is expected to make his debut as a signed player in tomorrow's friendly against Bolton Wanderers but O'Brien will not be fit enough to appear against the English Premiership outfit after an injury scare last week.

The 22-year-old Republic of Ireland player was sent for X-rays in hospital on Friday amid fears he had sustained a broken ankle in a bounce game at Easter Road.

Despite the tests revealing no fracture, Collins does not want to see the former Newcastle youngster take any chances ahead of the opening SPL match with rivals Hearts in under a fortnight's time.

Collins added: "The X-ray came back negative, which was good news, and the healing so far has been good.

"He's definitely out for Wednesday and, while you never know, he's also doubtful for Middlesbrough on Saturday.

"We'll wait and see how things develop but we won't be taking any risks ahead of the first match against Hearts at Tynecastle."